Convicted in Crystal Rogers' murder, Brooks Houck still tries to run his business from jail

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Brooks Houck is spending a lot of time on the phone from jail after being convicted of murdering Crystal Rogers. In the two weeks following his conviction, Houck made more than 120 phone calls from the Oldham County Jail.

In more than 30 hours on those calls, Houck spent a lot of time discussing his rental and home-building businesses with his mother, Rosemary Houck.

"I'm incarcerated, locked up and I've been sentenced to life in prison," Houck said in one call. "They've taken my life from me and ... my hopes are pinned to an appeal."

A WDRB investigation previously found Brooks Houck owns 73 properties in Nelson County worth $13.5 million. Rogers’ family has a wrongful death lawsuit pending against him.

Rosemary Houck told her son in one call after the conviction no money had been deposited in his account in at least four weeks and there was only $5,000 in his account now.

"No deposits have been placed in your account for at least four weeks," Rosemary told her son.

"There should be in the neighborhood of $30,000 or $40,000 in rent income," he replied.

"If you want (Crystal Maupin, Brooks Houck's girlfriend) to handle everything, I can do that," Rosemary Houck told her son. "I would hope that she would give me some of my money back, because, you know what? I may need it for lawyers or whatever."

Rosemary Houck and Brooks' brother, Nick, have been called unindicted co-conspirators by prosecutors. However, they've never charged with a crime.

"And then beyond that, my whole life's works they want to take from me and give the people that are not deserving of it," Brooks Houck said. "I'm not responsible for the crime that they've charged me with, and they not only want to take my life from me. That's not enough. They want to take all my material assets ... because I'm considered a deep-pocketed individual and they want to divvy all my assets out to that family."

Brooks Houck also discussed selling his properties with his family. But, for now, a Nelson County judge has prohibited Houck from selling any assets until a hearing in the civil case in October.

"I just need to get the court approval, which I'm fine with," he said. "It's really not that big of a change, but to file a motion and prove that what we're doing is accurate, fair and honest ... that's not really hard to do. I mean, I'm not going to do anything wrong or dishonest or fraudulent. But I don't want my hands tied where I can't run my business."

Brooks Houck also called Maupin to talk about finances.

"I'm just broke. That's all there is to it," he said. "I'm just broke right now. I'm trying to sell some stuff to keep the business and everything running, but we're going to make it through this, honey. We're going to make it. It's just going to take some time, and more lawyers are going to get involved."

In some conversations, Brooks Houck was optimistic. In others, he described life behind bars.

"I'm been locked up for two years, sitting here in a county jail with no activities, no access," he said. "I've eaten crap for food. ... I'm just existing like somebody who's 90 years old inside of the nursing home."

A jury recommended Houck serve life in prison plus five years for Rogers’ murder. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 21.

"They've got me in here laying down in the little stainless steel bunk bed, locked up in a concrete box," Houck said. "And I'm trying to hire lawyers that can help me fight my way out of this. I have to wait to go through this appeals process."

Brooks Houck owns 73 properties worth $13 million in Nelson County, records show

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Brooks Houck, Crystal Rogers went to family farm 'to get away' the night she vanished